Teizawa did not hesitate. In his mind, he silently said: Option Two.
[Ding! Choice confirmed. Mission activated: Rewrite Hyuga Neji's ending. Reward: Method to break the Caged Bird.]
The system's voice faded.
Teizawa took a deep breath and turned around.
His gaze landed on the black-haired young man who was about to leave.
"Neji..."
His voice was not loud, but it reached everyone present with perfect clarity.
"Interested in talking alone?"
Hyuga Neji's steps abruptly stopped.
He turned around.
Those pale eyes locked tightly onto Teizawa.
They were filled with vigilance and wariness.
Hinata took Hanabi's hand and instinctively stepped back.
Hanabi tilted her little face up.
Curiosity filled her expression as she looked from Teizawa to her brother.
Teizawa met Neji's gaze, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
That smile carried an unreadable certainty.
"Just a few words," he said. "It won't take much of your time."
Neji remained silent for a long while.
Morning light spilled through the gaps between the treetops, falling across his cool, reserved face.
Teizawa's reflection appeared in his Byakugan.
"Fine."
His voice was soft, but every word was as clear as if it had been carved into stone.
Hinata opened her mouth.
She wanted to say something, but swallowed the words back down.
Hanabi tugged at her sister's hand and said in a gloomy little voice, "Big Sister, Brother left with that person."
Hinata lowered her head and said nothing.
She only tightened her grip on her sister's hand.
...
Teizawa walked ahead, with Neji following four steps behind him.
The two of them passed through the mouth of an alley and turned into a narrow path barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
High walls rose on both sides. Withered vines crawled over the tops of the walls, and a few dead leaves trembled in the wind.
Sunlight was blocked outside, leaving the alley cool and quiet.
Only the sound of their footsteps echoed across the stone pavement.
Neji did not understand why this man wanted to speak with him.
He was the Kazekage, standing high above others as one of the most powerful figures in the Five Great Nations.
And Neji was only a minor ninja of the Hyuga branch family.
He could not even decide his own freedom.
He did not remember having any connection with this Kazekage.
He did not remember offending him. He did not remember helping him either.
Then...
Why was this man looking for him?
Carrying both anxiety and curiosity, Neji followed Teizawa into the depths of the alley.
Teizawa stopped, turned around, and leaned against the wall.
His hands were tucked into his sleeves.
His gaze fell on Neji's face.
There was an unreadable scrutiny in his eyes.
"Kazekage-sama..."
Neji finally could not hold back anymore. His voice was cool and restrained, but the unease he was trying to suppress betrayed him.
"What exactly do you want with me?"
Teizawa did not answer.
His gaze shifted from Neji's face to the forehead protector wrapped around his brow.
Konoha's forehead protector. A silver metal plate. A navy-blue cloth band.
He knew exactly what was hidden beneath it.
The mark of the Caged Bird. The shackle the Hyuga branch family had been unable to break for generations.
Neji felt uncomfortable under his stare.
He instinctively wanted to raise a hand and touch his forehead protector, but forced himself to stop.
He stood there with his back straight and his chin slightly lowered.
Like bamboo bent by the wind, only to stubbornly straighten again.
The silence lasted for a long time.
So long that Neji was about to lose patience.
Then Teizawa finally spoke.
"Neji..."
His voice was soft, but every word was as clear as if it had been carved into stone.
"Do you want freedom?"
Neji froze.
Freedom?
Those two words were like a needle.
They stabbed straight into the softest place in his heart.
He thought he no longer cared.
Since the day his father died. Since the day that mark had been carved onto his forehead. Since the day the clan head told him, "This is the fate of the branch family"...
He had told himself he did not care anymore.
Fate could not be changed.
The branch family was destined to die protecting the main family.
This was the Hyuga clan's rule, upheld for centuries.
No one could break it.
But now, those two words came from the mouth of the person standing before him.
Like a key.
They opened the door in his heart that had long been sealed beneath dust.
"What do you mean?"
His voice was pressed very low, so low it sounded as if it had been forced from the depths of his throat.
Something turbulent surged in his eyes.
The corners of Teizawa's mouth rose slightly.
There was a certainty in that smile that made people want to grind their teeth.
"It doesn't feel good to be bound by the Caged Bird, does it?"
Boom...
The words exploded through Neji's mind like a clap of thunder.
He thought he had stopped caring.
He thought he had accepted that fate.
But at that moment, all the unwillingness, grievance, and anger he had suppressed for years were stirred up by that single sentence.
Like magma breaking through the earth's crust. Like floodwaters bursting through a dam.
It surged, roared, and burned inside his chest.
His hands trembled. His lips trembled. Even breathing became difficult.
His father's death. His mother's reddened eyes from crying. The clan head's expression as though he wanted to say something but could not...
And all those nights when Neji had sat alone on the roof, staring up at the stars...
All of it came rushing back.
The weight of it nearly suffocated him.
"You..."
He heard his own voice, hoarse as if there were sand in his throat.
"What exactly do you mean?"
Teizawa straightened and walked up to him.
He looked down at Neji.
Not with the condescension of someone looking from above.
But with a gaze that seemed equal, and carried a measure of sincerity.
"I have a way to undo the Caged Bird."
His voice was quiet, but every word struck the ground with weight.
Neji's pupils sharply contracted.
His hands clenched unconsciously, his knuckles turning white.
His nails sank deep into his palms.
His breathing stopped. His heartbeat seemed to stop as well.
The world fell silent in that instant.
Only that voice echoed beside his ear.
I have a way to undo the Caged Bird.
"You're lying..."
At that moment, Neji's voice suddenly rose.
Like a string stretched to its limit and then snapped.
His cool, reserved face twisted.
His Byakugan was bloodshot, and his chest heaved violently.
His entire body was like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
"The Caged Bird can't be broken! Konoha's branch family has spent centuries without finding a way to undo it. How could you possibly have a way..."
His voice slammed back and forth inside the narrow alley.
The vibration shook dead leaves from the tops of the walls.
"Don't try to deceive me!"
He glared at Teizawa, like a beast driven into a corner.
"Or do you have some other goal? Are you plotting something against the Hyuga?"
Teizawa leaned against the wall, his hands still tucked into his sleeves.
Looking at Neji's nearly hysterical state, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
"I'm not plotting anything against the Hyuga."
His voice was unhurried, as if he were speaking of something that had nothing to do with him.
"However..."
He paused, his gaze sweeping across Neji's face.
"I am rather interested in you, and in those two little girls."
Neji's pupils contracted.
Interested in Hinata and Hanabi?
His hand instinctively moved to the ninja tool pouch at his waist.
Every cell in his body entered combat readiness.
Teizawa looked at him as if he were facing a great enemy and smiled.
"Looks like..."
He straightened, the method to break the Caged Bird already clear in his mind.
"If I don't let you try it for yourself, you won't believe me."
Neji instinctively stepped back.
His back hit the wall, leaving him nowhere to retreat.
Teizawa raised a hand and reached toward him.
Neji's body tensed like a bowstring drawn to its limit.
His hand rested on his kunai, ready to lash out at any moment.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]