All morning, Neji was distracted, his mind elsewhere. When the lunch break finally arrived, he grabbed the bento he'd made for himself and headed out to find a quiet spot to eat.
But as he stepped out of the classroom, he noticed a fellow Hyuga clansman, about his age, passing by with a vacant, broken expression.
Neji recognized him—a fourth-year student at the ninja academy, two years older than him, from the Hyuga branch family.
The boy's father had died in the Third Ninja World War, and his mother, from what Neji had heard, was killed three years ago by an enemy spy during a mission. Now, he lived with his grandfather, a branch family elder.
Wait a second…
A sudden thought struck Neji, and before he could stop himself, he grabbed the boy's arm. As the boy turned back with a puzzled look, Neji blurted out, "Last night… was the branch family elder brutally killed by a main family elder your grandfather?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Neji regretted it. The question was too blunt.
He watched as the boy's already dazed and heartbroken expression twisted further, a mix of hatred and grief surfacing visibly. Tears welled up in his Byakugan eyes, and his voice trembled with a choked sob.
Neji froze, at a loss. He'd never made anyone cry before. Even when he'd said harsh things to Hinata, the main family's young miss, she hadn't shed a tear.
Now, faced with this boy's breakdown, Neji—a kid who admired justice—didn't know what to do.
Then the boy spoke.
"My grandfather…"
"He just wanted to help me break the Caged Bird Curse. He believed that with my talent, I could become an elite jonin for the Leaf if I wasn't held back by the curse. Was that so wrong? Did it deserve death? He was my only blood relative left…"
"I… Neji, I don't know what to do. I hate the main family elder who killed him, but the other branch elders told me it's just the Hyuga clan's rules. My grandfather broke the rules, so he paid the price."
"This morning, someone from the main family came to me. They said my grandfather broke the clan's traditions, that he was punished for his mistake."
"They told me not to follow in his footsteps."
"I… I don't know what to do…"
Watching the boy's emotions collapse, Neji fell silent.
He realized his thoughtless question had snapped the boy's already frayed nerves.
He saw the tears streaming down the boy's face, saw the Caged Bird Curse seal on his forehead, uncovered by any bandage.
Memories flooded back—his own father, Hizashi, dying as a scapegoat for the main family. The helplessness, the despair, the hatred, the grief…
"The Caged Bird…"
"The main family…"
"The killer…"
Neji took a deep breath, his young face hardening with resolve. He looked straight at the boy and said sharply, "Do you think crying like this will bring your murdered grandfather back? The Caged Bird Curse triggered his illness and led to his death—it's no different from murder! The main family elder who activated the curse is a killer!"
"If you've got any guts or backbone, you wouldn't be standing here looking so pathetic! Fate… ha! The Hyuga branch family's fate is tough to break, sure. We Caged Birds can't just break free and soar."
"But!"
"There's always a way. There has to be!" Neji emphasized twice, locking eyes with the boy. "If you're truly unwilling, if you're really carrying that hatred… follow me."
With that, Neji turned and strode off in a direction.
The tearful Hyuga boy stood stunned.
Neji was two years younger, but in that moment, he seemed far more mature.
As Neji's figure grew distant, the boy hesitated. He opened his mouth to say something but couldn't find the words.
But as Neji was about to disappear from view, the boy hurriedly wiped his tears and ran after him with all his might.
The hatred in his heart fueled a faint spark of hope.
Then, he realized Neji had led him to the ninja academy's first-year classroom. Before he could catch his breath, Neji marched inside and found a blond kid and an Uchiha kid.
"I need to see Uchiha Akainu! I've found a murderer!"
That's what Neji said to Naruto and Sasuke.
Naruto, bored all morning, perked up instantly.
"A murderer?"
Sasuke, who'd been equally distracted, snapped out of his daze.
---
Meanwhile, outside the Leaf Village:
"Looks like Uchiha Obito's been scared off. If he was waiting to ambush me, I'd have walked into it by now."
Tenzo Biwa let out a slow breath, glancing at the wooden clone of Uchiha Akainu beside him.
He hesitated, then asked, "The Rain Country's pretty far from the Leaf. Can your wooden clone really last that long?"
"Even if the original and the clone are at opposite ends of the ninja world, a Wood Release clone can keep going. Unless the original dispels it or the clone takes serious damage," the wooden clone replied in a cold tone, eerily like Akainu himself.
"…What a monster."
Tenzo clicked his tongue. Was Akainu just that good, or was Wood Release just that incredible?
Speaking of which…
This guy had Wood Release, Sharingan, and Lava Release—three bloodline limits in one, right?
Absolutely ridiculous!
"Ahem!" Tenzo hid his shock, slipping back into his cool demeanor. Slinging his Decapitating Carving Knife over his shoulder, he dashed forward and said, "One question: if I tell Konan about Obito and she doesn't go after him but instead teams up with him to silence me, what then?"
"She won't."
The wooden clone said with calm certainty, "She's more suspicious and wary of Obito than anyone else in the Akatsuki."
Tenzo muttered, puzzled, "You've never met her, have you? How do you know her so well?"
"In the ninja world, anyone with a bit of fame has no secrets from the original," the clone replied.
'Even me?' Tenzo thought but didn't ask. Before he could, the clone spoke again.
"Including you."
Tenzo: "…"
---
At the Hokage's office:
Hiruzen Sarutobi opened a drawer and reached into a tin tobacco case, only to find it empty. He remembered he'd used up his tobacco yesterday but hadn't refilled it after last night's chaos.
"Itachi, go buy me some—"
He stopped mid-sentence, freezing. The rest of the words wouldn't come.
"Sigh. Still not used to it."
Hiruzen shook his head helplessly. Uchiha Itachi had been one of his most promising Uchiha ninja, just like Shisui.
Such a shame.
Just then, an Anbu ninja leapt through the window, dropping to one knee before Hiruzen. "Hokage-sama, there's been a death in the Hyuga clan."
Hiruzen's brow furrowed.
Why was someone dying in the village every day? At this rate, he half-suspected the Leaf would run out of people eventually.
"Is it connected to Akainu again?" Hiruzen asked, his brows knitting tighter. Whenever someone died, his mind automatically went to Akainu—it was practically instinct now.
The Anbu shook his head and gave a brief explanation, making Hiruzen's frown deepen.
"Conflict between the Hyuga main and branch families? Since Hizashi's death, they've kept things restrained. I didn't expect another branch family death at the main family's hands after all these years."
Hiruzen rubbed his temples, his tobacco craving making him even more irritable.
"Send Homura to talk to the Hyuga. The main family needs to come up with a solution to stabilize the branch family. I don't want to see the Hyuga clan spiral into civil war."
He waved a hand dismissively.
Whether it was the Uchiha or the Hyuga, a clan civil war would only drain the village's strength, weakening the Leaf.
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"Wait!" As the Anbu was about to leave, Hiruzen suddenly remembered something and stopped him. "Tell Homura to go immediately. Urge the main family to handle this quickly and the branch family to let go of their grudges. Resolve this perfectly before Akainu gets involved."
"If he steps in, this won't be easy to brush off. I won't have any solutions then."
Hiruzen was certain Akainu would get involved—it was just a matter of how fast his intel network was.
And based on past experience…
Akainu's ability to sniff out "crimes" was frighteningly sharp.
Sending Mitokado Homura to warn the main family and calm the branch family was the most Hiruzen, as the Third Hokage, could do.
"Yes!"
---
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Land of Fire:
"Obito, hasn't it recovered yet?" Swirl-faced White Zetsu lounged with his legs crossed, looking at Obito, who was eating lunch with a blank expression. "It's been a whole day!"
"No."
Obito set down his skewer of dango, his face darkening. "It's been screaming in despair for a full day and night. Every time I enter the Kamui dimension, I hear it."
The thought sent a chill through him. What would've happened if he'd been hit by that eye technique?
Obito shook his head, dismissing the impossible scenario.
He asked, "What do you think of Uchiha Itachi? Is he serious about working with us, or is this a trap?"
White Zetsu rubbed his chin. "The kid sounded pretty serious. Either way, once he kills or captures Akainu's little follower, we'll know if he's got the guts."
"From what we know, he and that Uchiha Izumi girl used to be close. Tsk tsk, best friends, even."
"Killing a former best friend? That's some natural-born villainy!"
Obito gave a cold smirk. Whether Itachi was "bad" didn't matter—what mattered was his usefulness.
"Speaking of which," Obito said, "it's been a night and a morning. He should've succeeded by now, right?"
White Zetsu replied, "We've got a few White Zetsu clones stationed around the Leaf's outskirts. If that kid walks out with Izumi's body—or her alive—our clones will pick him up. The intel will come to me."
Just as he finished, a sudden surge of neural information hit White Zetsu's mind.
He froze.
His exaggerated gestures stopped mid-motion.
Obito, sharp as ever, noticed. "What's wrong?"
"Obito."
White Zetsu's voice was dead serious. "One of the clones sent back the latest intel from the Leaf. Itachi didn't succeed. While hunting Uchiha Izumi, he ran into that monster-like Lava Release user, Uchiha Akainu."
"He was killed!"
"No body left!"
Obito: "???"
Huh?
Obito's mind struggled to process the information.
"Dead?!"
He let out a heavy breath, a mix of frustration and amusement bubbling up. "With that level of skill, he thought he could work with me? Acting all high and mighty, as if partnering with me guaranteed he could kill Akainu and wipe out the Uchiha clan. Where'd he get that confidence?"
To think he'd been fooled by a kid like that! He'd even given him a chance to prove himself.
Obito wanted to slap himself.
Good thing no one else knew about this.
Otherwise, he'd lose all face.
White Zetsu sighed regretfully. "Too bad we weren't there. Could've seen him wet himself in fear before he died. Obito, you think he peed first or crapped himself first? Or both at once?"
Obito stared silently at his lunch.
He'd lost his appetite.
---
Today, the Hyuga clan compound welcomed a high-ranking Leaf advisor, Mitokado Homura.
Several main family elders personally greeted him, escorting him to a reception room.
This was the Hyuga's way of surviving in the Leaf—always polite and deferential to the village's leadership, always keeping their posture low. It ensured they weren't feared like the Uchiha.
Homura didn't waste time. The moment he sat down, he got to the point. "I heard last night a main family elder killed a branch family elder."
"Anbu noticed that many branch family ninja are furious about this. The impact is very bad."
His words made one main family elder's expression stiffen noticeably.
"Jinsuke, was it you?" Homura asked.
"It wasn't intentional. I had no desire to harm him," Hyuga Jinsuke said, his wrinkled face twitching. "The Caged Bird Curse accidentally triggered a latent illness in his body. To be precise, he died of sickness last night."
Homura shook his head. "Even if it was a sickness, do you think the branch family will let go of their hatred? In their eyes, you're the culprit behind the elder's death, even if it was indirect."
"The Hokage doesn't want the Hyuga clan to descend into chaos. You know how to handle this, right?"
Hyuga Hiashi, the clan head, said expressionlessly, "Please tell the Hokage not to worry. The Hyuga clan won't cause trouble for the Leaf."
"Good." Homura stood. "I'm heading to the branch family next. You'd better resolve this conflict before Akainu notices."
After Homura left, the reception room fell into a brief silence.
"He broke the Hyuga clan rules!" Jinsuke broke the quiet, his face sour. "Forget that I didn't mean to kill him—even if I had, and I did, it'd still align with our centuries-old traditions."
"What's the Hokage's deal? Does he expect me to turn myself in to appease the branch family's anger? The Hyuga's internal affairs aren't the Hokage's business!"
Despite their outward deference to the Leaf's leadership, the Hyuga were privately frustrated.
No one truly enjoyed bowing and scraping.
"Sigh." Another main family elder spoke up. "No need to get worked up. The Hokage and his people don't fully understand our clan's dynamics. The branch family can't stir up any real trouble."
"If they're upset, let them be. Glares can't kill anyone. But if they make a move, the Caged Bird Curse will teach them a lesson."
"When they were branded with the Caged Bird, their lives stopped being their own."
Jinsuke's expression softened slightly.
Then, a third elder added, "The real issue isn't the Hokage—it's Uchiha Akainu. If he gets involved, it'll be tricky, like last time."
Last time, the followers of [Absolute Justice], Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, had "cruelly" killed a young Hyuga clansman outside the compound in the name of "justice."
The Hyuga had chosen to swallow their pride.
If Akainu got involved this time…
Hiss.
Jinsuke's face paled at the thought.
"Senior Jinsuke," Hiashi said, placing his hands on his knees. "You need to lie low for a while. Don't return to the Leaf for now. I'll send someone to notify you when Akainu leaves the village."
Jinsuke's face twisted with frustration. "We can brush off the Hokage's warnings, but we're treating a threat from Uchiha Akainu this seriously? Are we really scared of the Uchiha? He doesn't even represent the whole clan!"
"Hmph!" Jinsuke stood, still grumbling. "I'm going to see my family one last time."
He was backing down, despite his tough talk.
Hiashi exhaled slowly, addressing the other two elders. "For now, stabilize the branch family. Keep them from dragging Akainu into this. They're all in the compound, right?"
One elder replied, "Except for the two branch kids at the ninja academy, everyone's in the compound."
He paused, then added, "There used to be three kids at the academy, but one was killed. Now it's just two—one's the grandson of the deceased elder."
Hiashi froze. The other could only be Neji.
As he mulled this over, an elder cautioned, "Clan Head Hiashi, you should consider branding either Hinata or Hanabi with the Caged Bird Curse. Both can't stay in the main family."
"That's been the rule for generations. Hizashi was your brother, and he became branch family. The same applies to Hinata and Hanabi."
The elder stood, offering advice. "Hiashi, I know it's tough—I struggled with it when I was clan head. But rules are rules. They can't be changed."
"As clan head, you can't have it both ways. Make the decision for Hinata or Hanabi grand and proper, so one of them has no regrets."
Hiashi was silent for a long moment.
"…I'll think it over carefully. Hinata's old enough, but Hanabi's still young. I need time to assess her talent and potential."
He spoke gravely.
---
In the Leaf Village, somewhere:
"Huff, huff…"
"Found him!"
Naruto, panting, spotted Uchiha Akainu in the distance. He wiped the sweat from his brow and turned to Neji and the other Hyuga boy trailing behind. "Just tell Teacher Akainu exactly what happened."
As Naruto hurried forward, he noticed Sasuke had stopped in his tracks.
Naruto paused, confused. "What's wrong?"
The news of Uchiha Itachi's death at Akainu's hands was still confined to a small circle in the Leaf—mostly the Uchiha clan and a few ninja.
Naruto clearly didn't know that Sasuke's older brother had been killed by Akainu.
"…Nothing."
Sasuke took a deep breath, suppressing the strange turmoil in his heart. He repeated to himself, 'Itachi deserved it, Itachi deserved it,' then said to Naruto, "Let's go find Teacher Akainu."
"You're acting weird today," Naruto muttered but didn't press further.
He rushed toward Akainu, calling out loudly, "Teacher Akainu!"
"Senior Jiro!"
He didn't forget Jiro, and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's call of "Senior" made Jiro's eyes close in satisfaction.
Sasuke followed, offering his own greetings.
"Meow, shouldn't you two brats be in class at the ninja academy?" Jiro said. "If I'm not mistaken, lunch break ended a minute ago."
Naruto quickly explained, "We found a murder case in the village, so we came to find Teacher Akainu right away."
"A murder case?"
Akainu's gaze lowered to Naruto and Sasuke, then shifted to Neji and the timid-looking Hyuga boy behind them.
Under Akainu's stare, Neji felt a wave of fear, like a terrifying beast was sizing him up.
He felt exposed, vulnerable.
'It's just an illusion. If I'm upright and just, there's nothing to fear! If I can't even look him in the eye, how can I follow his absolute justice?'
Neji steeled himself, repeating the thought.
He lifted his head, met Akainu's gaze, and recounted the incident in full detail.
Neji knew he could've embellished the story, painting the main family in a worse light. That might've ensured their downfall, maybe even letting him use Akainu's power against them.
But…
Would that really be justice?
That doubt made Neji choose to tell the truth, unadorned.
"Huh?" Naruto, listening, was dumbfounded. He'd been so focused on finding Akainu that he hadn't asked Neji what the "murder case" was.
Now, hearing it, he was baffled.
"What's this main family, branch family nonsense? Why punish someone just for trying to break a curse? That Caged Bird Curse sounds like bad news! Does the Hyuga clan's rules trump the Land of Fire's laws?"
Sasuke was equally stunned.
The Hyuga clan…
They were kind of unhinged, weren't they?