The moonlight fell upon Aokawa, casting a long shadow.
For some reason, Hyuga Ryosuke felt that Aokawa was a bit different tonight.
That feeling was like a blade that had always been hidden in its scabbard suddenly revealing a hint of its sharp edge.
"What have you been up to lately?" Hyuga Ryosuke asked. "You've been locking yourself in your room, acting all mysterious. What's the big idea?"
Aokawa stood with his back to him, looking out at the pitch-black night sky.
There were the torches of patrolling Ninjas, the chirping of insects in the distance, and that eternal, unchanging moon.
"Me?" His voice was soft, yet it reached Ryosuke's ears clearly.
"I've been looking for freedom lately."
"Freedom?" Hyuga Ryosuke was stunned for a moment, then a wide grin broke out on his chubby face. "So, did you find it?"
Aokawa slowly turned around.
In that moment, Hyuga Ryosuke was surprised to find that the Byakugan in Aokawa's eyes seemed clearer and deeper than usual.
As if they could see through all the illusions of the world.
"Basically, yes," Aokawa answered calmly.
"Oh-ho!" Hyuga Ryosuke let out a whistle. Although he didn't understand exactly what Aokawa meant, it didn't stop him from showing support.
"Sounds like a good thing. Shouldn't you count me in?" He stood up from his chair and patted his chest.
"No matter what kind of freedom it is, count your brother in."
Aokawa looked at the fat man in front of him.
He looked at the green curse seal on his forehead that still existed even when covered by his headband.
That curse seal that coiled around everyone in the Hyuga Branch Family like a nightmare.
"I'd like to." Aokawa walked up to Ryosuke and reached out to help him straighten his slightly crooked headband.
His movements were very gentle, his fingertips brushing over the location of that curse seal.
"I'm just afraid you've already grown numb," Aokawa's voice lowered.
"Unwilling, and afraid to be free."
Hyuga Ryosuke couldn't help but swallow hard.
He didn't know why Aokawa was saying all these inexplicable things tonight.
He instinctively felt his skin crawl, a hint of chill rising from the bottom of his heart.
He didn't think about the Caged Bird Seal.
But for the Hyuga Branch Family, the word 'freedom' was a wish that could only be buried deep in the heart, a taboo that could not be spoken aloud.
Aokawa's completely unfettered Aura made him feel extremely uncomfortable and uneasy.
"It—it's getting late! I... I just remembered I haven't blown out the lamp in my Barracks!" Hyuga Ryosuke stammered out an excuse, stumbled as he turned, and practically fled toward the door in a few quick steps.
He didn't want to stay for another second.
Aokawa didn't stop him, just quietly watching his flustered back as he fled, his eyes as calm as an ancient well.
"Oh, right!" Just as he reached the door, Hyuga Ryosuke suddenly turned back and shouted as if remembering a life-saving straw, "That kid Kamon came too!"
He paused and added with a complex tone, "That kid... probably doesn't know your strength has become so... so terrifying. Tsk, I really don't know what kind of face he'll make when he sees you."
After saying that, he didn't linger any longer, his figure quickly disappearing into the night.
Kamon?
Aokawa watched Ryosuke leave, then dug through the deep memories of his predecessor to find such a dusty name.
Hyuga Kamon.
Three years younger than him and the fat man.
He was like their little tag-along, yet he was completely different from them.
That guy's talent was better than his predecessor's and the fat man's combined.
He possessed an extremely high purity of Byakugan and held the Hyuga Style Gentle Fist as his lifelong faith; he was a thorough Gentle Fist supremacist.
Precisely because of this, when the predecessor tried a bow-and-arrow path more suited to him due to his mediocre Gentle Fist talent, a huge rift appeared between the two.
In Hyuga Kamon's eyes, a Hyuga Clan member who gave up the Gentle Fist was a traitor to the Bloodline.
Coupled with his extreme distaste for the predecessor's 'degenerate' appearance of being surrounded by girls, the two drifted apart, eventually becoming strangers.
Aokawa didn't care about this estrangement.
To put it bluntly, he was just a hot-blooded idiot who hadn't outgrown his chuunibyou phase.
On the road of life, it's just a series of constant meetings and partings.
Because of a certain event or environment, some people gather together. When the trend passes and the environment changes, people naturally scatter.
It cannot be forced, nor is there a need to force it.
But... the name Hyuga Kamon, he did have some impression of it.
Aokawa walked to the window, looking at his clear reflection under the bright moon, his lips curling into a meaningful arc.
If he remembered correctly, in the future Fourth Ninja World War, there seemed to be a guy named Hyuga Kamon.
Belonging to the Surprise Attack Division led by Kankuro, he used his Byakugan to discover the Explosive Clay inside the Edo Tensei body of Muta Aburame, which was considered a small contribution.
"A decent Sensory-type Ninja with a solid Gentle Fist foundation and a firm will."
"It's just that his brain... isn't very easy to use."
"But..." Aokawa calculated inwardly, "Since he's so obsessed with Gentle Fist, then perhaps he can become my aid in the future."
Just as he was thinking, a line of text appeared.
[You have repaired the defective Byakugan, opening a wider field of vision and making the Bird in a Cage Curse Seal effectively useless. You have received blessing.]
[Byakugan has been upgraded from Defective to Complete.]
[energy crystals * 6,000]
Holy crap!
Holy crap!
What the hell, 6,000 energy crystals.
Why so many?
Is it because I changed my fate?
I got this much just for dealing with the Caged Bird Seal. If I blew up the Hyuga Clan, wouldn't I become a god?
And the Byakugan actually has Ranks too.
He hurriedly opened his personal information.
---
racial imprint: Quincy (Mixed-blood, fusion rate: 100%)
Talent Skill: Spiritual Particle Cluster
Racial Skills: Holy Arrow, Holy Arrow: Scatter, Holy Arrow: Demon Break, Reishi Network, Hirenkyaku, Rantō Tenkū, Seietsu, Green Cup, Gokakuhō, Rain of Light, Sprenger, Blood Armor: Dynamic Blood Armor
crests: Innate Full Spirit, Water Release Mastery, Spirit Healer, Sword Mastery, Lightning Release Mastery
Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan (Complete)
Chakra Nature: Water, Lightning, Earth, Fire, Yang, Yin, Wind
energy crystals: 15,990
---
Sure enough, where it used to be empty behind Byakugan, it was now marked with the word 'Complete'.
Does this mean the Byakugan can also be upgraded?
Or is it just a simple distinction mark because I repaired the Byakugan?
He shifted his gaze to the energy crystals.
Already 15,990, nearly 16,000.
Still 4,000 short. With another 4,000, I can open the Stone Gate...
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